A's Fan Loses Foul Ball, But Finds Free Beer

A foul ball is a souvenir to be treasured. You can't put a price on it.

But you can put a price on a beer at Oakland-County Coliseum. At more than $10 per drink, they don't come cheap. So when one fan at a recent Oakland game dove for a foul ball and lost out to his neighbor, he could count his blessings that he didn't come up empty-handed.

The fan who won the battle for the foul ball did so at a cost: He had to leave his beer on the ground behind the tarp to free his hand. So the losing fan seized the moment, taking his beer as a consolation prize.

That fan held the beer in celebration as he returned to the stands, drawing cheers from the crowd. Even better is when the beer's original owner puts together what just happened to him, and his laughter turns to bitterness.

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Of course, there's a small problem with the man's free beer: He had to go onto the playing field to get it. So security came to remove him from the game, souring the taste of that beer.

But the fan who won the foul ball did hand it over as the beer-wielding fan was escorted out of the stadium. Greatness recognizes greatness.